Bad Images Can Undercut Even the Best Design
When building an amazing website, many small business owners focus on things like the content, the words, the layout, the colors. All of those things are incredibly important and detrimental to the success of the website (and business). There’s one other major element that is far too often overlooked but yet has the power to completely ruin even the best designed site: bad images.
At Full Scope Creative, we’ve seen this happen too many times to websites and businesses. A website can have great copy, an amazing layout and structure, and load in split seconds, but if the images are simply off – be that looking dated, blurry, generic, or completely separate from the brand – the whole site and user experience will suffer.
This image issue isn’t one that needs to happen on your site, so let’s look into the issue more and make sure it’s not happening on your site.
Why Bad Images Can Be So Damaging
When you meet someone in person for the first time, that first impression can set the tone for everything going forward. The same is true on your website. The first images that users see can set their idea of your business in seconds. Changing that first impression is beyond difficult. The images they see right away need to communicate quality and build trust.
But when if the website uses:
- Blurry or low-resolution photos
- Outdated pictures or old store shots
- Overused, generic stock images
- Images that don’t connect to the brand or industry
it can instantly make your business appear out of touch, unprofessional, or even untrustworthy.
Even with absolute top notch products or services, bad images can leave visitors questioning the business and brand.
“Stocky” Photos Don’t Build Trust
Stock images can be a sore spot for many in the creative fields. We’re not entirely against using them on sites, they have their place for some businesses and websites. But going too heavy on stock images and really on them too much, especially the images that “everyone’s seen this one before” can backfire quickly. You’ve seen the image of 5 business people in gray suits before – they work at 5 or 6 different companies in almost every city in America.
If other businesses, or worse yet – your competitors, are using the same stock images, your website and business lose credibility quickly. The goal is not to have your brand blend in, but to stand out.
Photos Should Reflect Your Unique Brand
Every business has a story. Every business has a personality. Every business has a set of values that make it unique to the marketplace. Every business’s photos should support and reflect that uniqueness. A friend of mine has a beautiful, unique, creative photo of him and his wife hanging in their house. Put my wife and I in that photo and it wouldn’t connect because it’s not our interests. The same holds true for your business photos. When visitors come to your site, they should get a sense of who and what the business is. That’s tough to do with stiff or irrelevant imagery.
For example:
- If you own a local coffee shop, use real photos and images of your shop, your baristas, and your community.
- If you’re a local law firm, use professional, polished images that show your team in action.
- If you’re a creative agency, your images should be fresh, bold, and full of personality.
Generic simply doesn’t cut it anymore.
What Makes for a Great Website Image?
I’m not saying every photo on your site needs to be professionally taken or have thousands of hours put into it. At the end of the day, not every photo is going to be a magazine cover, but here’s what to aim for:
- High resolution: No pixelation or blurriness (but optimized for great load time).
- Natural and authentic: Use real photos of your team, your location, your products.
- On-brand: Match the color tone of your brand and make sure the lighting and style align with your overall branding.
- Purposeful: Every image should support the message of the page it’s on.
Don’t Let Bad Images Undermine Your Entire Website
A great website is more than just good code and catchy content. It’s about the whole picture (no pun intended for this blog article). That whole picture includes the imagery that brings your brand and business to life. Don’t let your website be one of the ones that suffers due to poor images. Invest the time and effort to get the perfect images for your perfect website.
